Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in the fourth season premiere of “The Walking Dead.”

When the new season of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” begins Sunday night, things are as tranquil as they ever get in a world overrun by zombies. Rick Grimes, the show’s main character – tormented last season by his wife’s death and a bout with near-insanity – seems to have found some peace. He’s stepped back from leading the survivors of the apocalypse, and is focused on farming and his children. He even laughs.

This is still “The Walking Dead,” however – and Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick, says the tranquility won’t last long.

“You know our show – we build something up only to smash it down very quickly,” Lincoln said, chuckling. “Very, very quickly, at the end of the first episode, you will realize that things are not going as well as they shall seem.”

Lincoln will be appearing at New York Comic Con this weekend with other members of the show’s cast, and he talked with Speakeasy about how “The Walking Dead” will be different in Season 4, where Rick’s head is at, and what it means for the show to keep losing characters and showrunners alike. An edited transcript:

The show’s writers really put Rick through the wringer last season, didn’t they? How would you assess the changes he went through?

It was a particularly dark and unpleasant and lonely place for Rick last season. We meet him (in the new season) in a very new place, he’s a man healing, and I think he’s been guided incredibly well and very gently and nurtured by the “family” that came together from apocalyptic trauma. He was so lost last season, and the audience and the rest of the characters all saw the results of him being so violent and aggressive and defensive.

Now he’s in a completely new stage – but as I say, I think that’s probably only got one episode.

This has always been a show where no one is safe – several long-standing characters died last season. You’re now one of the few who’s actually been there the entire time, the entire length of the series. What does that feel like?

It’s a strange experience. When we lose someone in the cast, it just sucks, it’s the worst thing possible, and you feel the grief, and everybody sort of squeezes together a little bit closer; we all sort of hold onto each other. There is a great bond and camaraderie. You have a shorthand with those actors you work with for a long time.

It takes awhile, I think, for the newer characters to come in and get what the show is. There’s a big expectation when new people join the show, but it’s also the other way round, it takes awhile (for the existing actors) to sort of get used to new people as well. The audience gets to see that, which is nice. I love it when you see two people bashing heads, but eventually they find a common ground – I love the audience experiencing that as the actors and the characters do. I think that makes for good drama.

It almost seems like that plays into the dynamic of the new season, with a bunch of new characters moved into the prison where the survivors set up shop, and the original small band of survivors we’ve been following is now outnumbered.

It’s changed. There is a community building at the prison, and it is a radically different group dynamic, and that’s better for some characters and less so for others, perhaps in different ways, and you will see that in the first episode.

The show seems to be as hard on its showrunners as on its characters. You’re now on your third in four seasons. What effect does that have on you and on the show that things keep moving like that?

Well, (new showrunner) Scott Gimple has been writing the show since season 2, he’s been part of the family for so, so long. My job is to serve the script, and the scripts have always been great on this show. I’m really, really excited about this season because I think the story arcs, the detailed character-driven storytelling – it’s different, it’s totally different. It’s not as kinetic as last year, but I think if people stick with it, they will be rewarded in kind.

You’re the central character of “The Walking Dead,” but do you have in the back of your mind that maybe one day you’ll pick up the script for the next episode and it’ll say “Rick gets eaten by the zombies”?

Yeah, we all do. The beauty of the show, and I think the reason people engage with it so much, is they really are on the edge of their seats rooting for their favorite characters to survive each week. I think if we lose that jeopardy, we lose a vital reason that makes the show so special. Absolutely I scan through the scripts to make sure I’m still speaking at the end of it.